Letters to the editor, Feb. 1

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle

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Ben Ramirez waits for cars while working as a toll collector at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 28, 2011. Starting in 2012, the bridge will no longer be using toll takers and will move to an all-electronic system. less

Ben Ramirez waits for cars while working as a toll collector at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 28, 2011. Starting in 2012, the bridge will no longer be using toll takers ... more

Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle

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Ben Ramirez collects a toll from a motorist while working at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 28, 2011. Starting in 2012, the bridge will no longer be using toll takers and will move to an all-electronic system. less

Ben Ramirez collects a toll from a motorist while working at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 28, 2011. Starting in 2012, the bridge will no longer be using toll takers and ... more

Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle

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Angelica Araya waits to start her shift as a toll collector at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 28, 2011. Starting in 2012, the bridge will no longer be using toll takers and will move to an all-electronic system. less

Angelica Araya waits to start her shift as a toll collector at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 28, 2011. Starting in 2012, the bridge will no longer be using toll takers and ... more

Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle

Image 4 of 6

Ben Ramirez collects a toll from a motorist while working at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 28, 2011. Starting in 2012, the bridge will no longer be using toll takers and will move to an all-electronic system. less

Ben Ramirez collects a toll from a motorist while working at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 28, 2011. Starting in 2012, the bridge will no longer be using toll takers and ... more

Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle

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Mahealani Luafalemana, on vacation from Hawaii, snaps a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge in front of the toll plaza in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 28, 2011. Starting in 2012, the bridge will no longer be using toll takers and will move to an all-electronic system. less

Mahealani Luafalemana, on vacation from Hawaii, snaps a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge in front of the toll plaza in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 28, 2011. Starting in 2012, the bridge will no ... more

Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle

Image 6 of 6

Angelica Araya waits to start her shift as a toll collector at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 28, 2011. Starting in 2012, the bridge will no longer be using toll takers and will move to an all-electronic system. less

Angelica Araya waits to start her shift as a toll collector at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, January 28, 2011. Starting in 2012, the bridge will no longer be using toll takers and ... more

I lived in Novato for five years, from 1988 until 1993. During this period I made many trips to San Francisco at various times of the day, seven days a week, often during commute hours, both morning and evening.

No matter how long or stressful the trip may have been, I knew that there was a usually friendly face waiting at the Toll Plaza of the Golden Gate Bridge with a word of welcome, a wish for the day or the evening and often a good joke.

It's very discouraging to note that sometime next year, this human link will be no more, and the only greeting we'll receive from the City by the Bay is a cold, cursory glance from some scanning device. What a loss.

The toll on toll takers

It's somewhat baffling to me that the Golden Gate Bridge toll takers are being selected for removal.

The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most recognizable international landmarks, a tourist magnet and a symbol of pride to the Bay Area and all California.

Its toll takers not only perform legitimate services but also add some important human character to this world-renowned icon and gateway to San Francisco's tourism.

One would think of them as among the very last toll takers to be considered for elimination on Bay Area bridges.

The bridge board should take a broader view of this cost-benefit situation and further explore some alternative creative fiscal options to this budgetary challenge.

John Menos, Santa Rosa

Chitchat? At a toll booth?

I agree with Charlotte Silverstein (Letters, Jan. 29) That the Golden Gate Bridge toll takers should not be replaced by automated collectors.

However, I think I've been stuck in traffic behind her, fuming, while she enjoyed her "polite and kind chitchat" with them at the tollbooth.

Ron Goben, Camino

Dehumanization on the bridge

I am more than angry and saddened by the decision to drop toll collectors.

This is a dehumanization of the Golden Gate Bridge and of everyone who travels on her.

As for the collectors themselves, this is yet another ugly example of the dismissal of human beings and their feelings and rights in favor of saving money.

While technology as we now know it can achieve very favorable things, it is a double-edged sword that destroys by way of such drastic actions and also is decreasing the value of life by forcing people to live a lifestyle that is becoming more and more impersonal.

People, being living creatures, need positive contact with each other. It's an essential part of being alive. We are becoming more and more like the saddest of zoo animals - isolated and unhappy, feeling (justifiably) of no importance, unless of course, one is in the CEO category.

It wasn't just the tree - it was safety on the street

I want to set the record straight about the Matier & Ross column "How S.F.'s cost of saving one tree grew to 6 figures" (Jan. 30).

The street repair work, pedestrian safety improvements, improved access for people with disabilities and traffic-calming measures on Montgomery Street would have occurred regardless of the removal or preservation of a tree there. The street had as much as 6 inches of lift, creating a danger to people who walk, drive or bike there.

The vast majority of the cost of this project is associated with the street repair work, not the tree. The Department of Public Works is charged with repairing streets and sidewalks, improving access for people with disabilities and planting, maintaining and protecting our urban forest.

The win-win I referred to is how we repaired a critical piece of our infrastructure, improved pedestrian safety and access for everyone and, for an additional, smaller cost, we were able to preserve a beautiful, mature tree that provides environmental benefits to the city.

Work with chief

As an Oaklander who wants a strong and effective police department, I take Chief Anthony Batts at his word when he says that coordination and cooperation must be a priority for ensuring public safety ("San Jose doesn't hire Chief Batts - future unclear." Jan. 28).

I entirely agree, but the one person whose agreement is necessary to make Oakland safe is our new mayor, Jean Quan. Unfortunately, her honor has shown, by her past actions and rhetoric, that she is not entirely cop-friendly.

Quan has an opportunity to reposition herself toward the police department by immediately announcing that she wants Batts to stay and is willing to work with him in a way that helps Oakland.

How to cut welfare

Letter writers want pensions cut and want fewer people on welfare. If pensions are cut, many more elderly people will be applying for welfare, begging on the street and dying (expensively) in hospital emergency rooms. Strong, well-regulated annuities, such as Social Security, and pension plans that cannot be raided by executives or gambled on risky investments are essential to cutting welfare rolls.

Teddy Knight, Berkeley

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